Richard’s work mainly focuses on:

• The history and development of Islamist dissent
• Propaganda and radicalisation
• Conspiracy theories and extremism
• Islamist groups active in the Arab world
• Experiences of disengagement from violence and
  de-radicalisation

Tel:  020 7182 7282
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Richard has previously conducted research for foreign policy think tanks in London and the United States. In addition, he has completed several internships at an Egyptian bank in London. Richard’s academic research has focused on political Islam and Islamist dissent in the Arab world, in particular in North Africa. He reads Arabic and used a large number of Islamist primary source texts as well as conducting interviews in Arabic for his graduate dissertation, which examined the history of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).

Richard has a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Oxford University (Mansfield College). In 2006, he was awarded Oxford University’s Joseph Schacht Memorial Prize for Islamic history. He has since completed a Masters degree in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford University (Wolfson College). He spent a year studying in Damascus, and has travelled widely in the Levant.

He has written for The Financial Times, The Guardian, Perspectives on Terrorism (here and here) and Counterpunch (here and here).